Alex Jones is back on X (formerly Twitter) thanks to Elon Musk and his willingness to defend freedom of expression at all costs.
The popular and controversial conservative commentator, highly questioned by the mainstream media, has returned to the social media platform after the South African-born tycoon launched a viral survey on his profile asking if Jones should be reinstated to X after his expulsion under the previous directive.
The survey, which had 1,966,125 votes, was very clear: the majority of users decided that Alex Jones should return to X, with 70.1% in favor.
The survey closed early Sunday morning. After the shutdown, Musk tweeted: “The people have spoken and so it shall be.”
The people have spoken and so it shall be
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
Although many followers of Alex Jones took a stand in favor of the commentator, many of his critics also called for the reinstatement of his account to speak freely.
“I think that what he did to the Sandy Hook parents was insanely horrible. At the same time, I’m sure there are thousands of other people who have done really bad things off of, who are posting on X and other platforms as well. One’s behavior off of X shouldn’t determine one’s access to X,” wrote independent journalist Brian Krassenstein, a frequent critic of conservatives along the lines of Jones.
“I know this will likely anger people, but as long as Jones doesn’t post here breaking the law, doxing people, or defaming them, then he should have access to post whatever he could say if he was standing in the middle of 5th Avenue in NYC. If X claims to be a ‘free speech platform’ they need to allow free speech. I also don’t feel it’s fair for advertisers to use this against them,” he added.
Following the reactivation of Jones’ account, which was deactivated in 2018, Musk agreed to be interviewed by the conservative host, who publicly thanked him for keeping his promise to defend freedom of expression.
During the conversation, Jones also praised X’s owner: “You got big ones, man.”
“You got big ones man.”
Andrew Tate and Alex Jones thanking Elon Musk for protecting free speech on X. pic.twitter.com/awQGizFsj4
— Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) December 10, 2023
